2010 ITP Thesishttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010
2010 ITP Thesis PresentationsFri, 14 May 2010 21:06:33 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.2Shahar Zakshttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/shahar-zaks/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000An experiment in creating a whole that is greater than its parts. The piece is comprised of incredibly simple autonomous units that do nothing more than sense and respond to their environment, yet owing to the feedback loop imposed by the system, intricate and unpredictable movement patterns emerge. This will be the second iteration of the project.
]]>Miriam Simunhttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/miriam-simun/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000We are designing life to an extent never before possible. Science speeds ahead while people attempt to catch up to understand the implications, and legislate how we want our world to be. This is especially true with biotechnology (consider the GM food debate). Advances in biotechnology enable us to redesign our food, our weather, our fellow animal species, and even ourselves. We continue to find ever new ways to use each others\’ bodies as factories (consider the sale of hair and semen, the donation of blood and kidneys, the retention of wet nurses, and the growing reproductive tourism industry).

Simultaneously, we realize that our lifestyles are unsustainable, unhealthy, and unethical. Industrialized food systems are a prime example: we abuse animals, exploit people, pollute the earth, and destroy our bodies as we eat. Food is a site of contention and revolution. Food is also one of our strongest links to the natural world, and the oldest site of social gathering – thus a wonderful vehicle for discussion.

To explore these issues and engage others in discourse I am developing a system for sourcing, creating, and distributing human cheese.

Human cheese offers a unique entry into these issues. Humans are the only animals to harvest and consume other species\’ milk. This milk is neither created for human digestion, nor particularly healthy for human consumption, nor always kind to the animals we harvest and milk. Cheese is one of the oldest bio-technologies. It was also, in 1990, the first genetically modified food product to be approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Disturbing visions of the future (or the present) may be abstracted, rationalized, swept aside. By serving human cheese, I ask people to make a decision: to eat, or not to eat. Facing the decision to ingest materializes the technological and ethical issues at hand, going beyond our rational senses to appeal to our visceral and instinctual humanness.

In doing so, I hope to engage discourse about what we eat, who we are (evolving to be), and what kind of future we want. In serving human cheese, I pose a number of questions:

As we navigate the complex landscape of technologically modified food production, how do we understand what is natural, healthy, ethical? If we reject all technologically modified food in favor of what is \’natural,\’ how far back to do we go? If we are to welcome new technologies into our lives, how will we continue to redefine what is natural, normal and healthy? How will this change our relationship to each other, the natural world and ourselves? If we are determined to continue to enjoy our cheese, perhaps it is most natural, ethical and healthy to eat human cheese? And if not, what other biotechnological processes does this force us to reconsider?

]]>Chris Aldenhttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/chris-alden/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000REMI (Rhizomatic Experimental Musical Interface) is a musical instrument designed to give the player the opportunity to improvise and collaborate musically with a non-human entity. REMI itself is a networked musical organism that receives musical input and creates its own unique musical output based on its ever changing networked structure.

A visitor simply touches whichever jars they wish, seeing these jars light up and hearing the corresponding notes play, they will then see (in the visualization) REMI choose which notes it wants to play in response, these notes will then sound and light up as well.

]]>Paragini Aminhttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/paragini-amin/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000Synchronic is a meditation tool. It is designed for people to enter a highly communicative state through simultaneous focus and relaxation. Whether operated by one person or two, the challenge is in syncing the movement of two hands on separate wooden plates in terms of direction, speed and pressure. A single user experiences heightened mind and body awareness as two brain hemispheres attempt to coordinate. With two users, each person becomes more aware of the other person\’s unspoken communication.

Users are instructed to perform a simple circular movement on separate plates. Hands in sync trigger a digital visual queue and sounds of harmonious Himalayan singing bowls. (A real bowl is played by applying pressure on its rim in a continuous circular motion with a wooden stick.)

Synchronic is also a new platform which can be further developed to incorporate more users and more intricate syncing challenges.

]]>Jack Kalish, Gabriella Levinehttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/jack-kalish-gabriella-levine/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000In the modern age, society is immersed in computing culture to the degree that it defines our relationships, careers, and lives. There is almost no place on earth where computers are not being used on a daily basis. Even in third-world nations, people are dependent on cellular phone technology. Though we are surrounded by computers and greatly effected by their role in our lives, very few people actually understand how computers work. Big Pixel aims to take one basic, ubiquitous aspect of computer, the pixel, and blows it up to a size that makes it easy to understand and portrayed in a physical representation that is familiar and non-threatening: an overhead light controlled by light switches.

ByteLite is an installation representing an individual LCD pixel, and the bit data that defines the color of the pixel. The pixel is represented as three tube lights: one red, one blue, and one green that are housed within a box protruding from a wall. Beneath the box is a row of 24 switches, each switch representing one bit of information about the pixel. The first 8 switches allow for a range of 0-255 for the red light, the next 8 for the green light, and the final eight for the blue light.

ByteLite aims to be an immersive interactive experience for the user that is engaging, intuitive and pleasant to interact with. It also aims to get the user to wonder about the nature of computers.

]]>Nisma Zaman, Melissa Clarkehttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/nisma-zaman-melissa-clarke/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000CrabSense is a living systems vivarium that measures selected environmental conditions and the impact of fresh greenery via sensors and hermit crabs. The vivarium was set up at the end of October 2010 and data was collected for over six weeks. Data included readings from several sensors placed inside the tank: carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, temperature, humidity and light. The two little hermit crabs, Aragorn and Arwen, were monitored via video and audio recordings. We found some exciting correlations between improvements in the vivarium’s environmental conditions and positive behavioral responses from the hermit crabs (details will be posted soon). While this may seem like common sense, seeing the changes in sensor values along with the videos of the crab responses, particularly to the addition of sphagnum moss, provides valuable documentation and emphasizes the importance of air-cleansing greenery in an environment along with proper temperature and humidity levels. These conditions aren’t just relevant to hermit crabs but also to humans.
]]>Michael Knuepfelhttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/michael-knuepfel/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000Suzanne Kirkpatrick, Alvin Chang, Ginny Hunghttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/suzanne-kirkpatrick-alvin-chang-ginny-hung/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000\”Channels\” is a full-body immersion installation in which you can navigate through a virtual water scene by physically interacting with tanks of water. Sit in a boat and experience being on the water by organically controlling your virtual environment with natural gestures — paddle, row, and float your way through space and time.
]]>Calli Higginshttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/calli-higgins/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000A grid of vintage glass photo slides rests unlit, awaiting the presence of a user. Through a web cam and blob detection software, the outline of a the user is projected behind the grid, lighting up the glass slides in the outline of the user\’s body shape.
]]>Paragini Amin, Michell Johanna Cardona, Fred Trumanhttps://itp.nyu.edu/shows/thesis2010/paragini-amin-michell-johanna-cardona-fred-truman/
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000The project is a voice activated gourmet shot dispenser, submitted for our Media Controller Project (Physical Computing midterm). The visitor walks up to it and makes his or her request for a drink. The dispenser will then pour a three-layered shot consisting of creme de cassis, elderflower liqueur, and pear brandy. Pousse Cafe pours delicately to keep the layers separated. This DIY machine may, in fact, be a faster, more successful way to pour a layered shot than by hand.
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